The viral disease, described as relatively new, is claiming lives among farmed Norwegian cod.
In November, over 200,000 cod died at a facility in Helgeland in Nordland county, according to Arve Olav Lervåg, production manager at Norcod's farm.
"Norcod can confirm that increased mortality was recorded in November at our facility in Bjørnvika in Nesna. In total, just over 200,000 fish have been lost," he tells the news site Intrafish.
The Norwegian Food Safety Authority conducted an inspection of the affected facility in December. They found around 4,700 dead fish and a further 1,500 that had begun to rot, Intrafish wrote.
The poxvirus, known as cod gill poxvirus (CGPV), causes severe damage to the gills and heart and has a high mortality rate.
The first reports of the virus in the Atlantic came in a 2024 study, after samples were taken from cod in Norwegian fish farms the year before.
